The National Security Agency (NSA) has been collecting data on all Americans since it was created by a directive by President Harry S. Truman. It is one of 16 intelligence agencies of the U.S. government.

It currently has its headquarters at Fort Meade, Maryland. It is surrounded by barbed wire and it is a city of its own with its own police and fire departments and its own post office.

Yet few members of Congress, even those who are members of the intelligence committees, have been

aware of the agency's size, scope and influence. Some 1,271 government organizations and 1,931 private companies work on programs related to counterterrorism, homeland security and intelligence in about 10,000 locations across the United States.

An estimated 854,000 people hold top security clearances. Many security and intelligence agencies do the same work, creating redundancy and waste.

Despite what is to all appearances massive overkill, the NSA is building a huge new facility in the desert in Utah to further expand its surveillance operations. Due to the size of the new facility in Utah, we can be assured that the government is going to keep up surveillance on all Americans.